The unexpected current spike in violent killings in the country, especially in the northern part, recalls to memory what took place ahead of the 2015 general elections. Forces of insecurity had taken over the country, followed by a strong wind of propaganda unleashed on the public space that convinced the public that indeed then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was the Jonas in the ship.
With monsters of insecurity almost overpowering the military in some states, especially in Borno, the son of the fisherman from Bayelsa State who said his presidential ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian, quickly conceded victory to his opponent, General Muhammadu Buhari, before declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Insecurity As Weapon
If Nigerians had hoped that the defeat of President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential poll would chase angels of death spreading their wings over the nation; they were grossly mistaken. Not only were violent attacks recurring on weekly and monthly basis with devastating consequences, many communities in the North Central zone that were predominantly inhabited by ethnic minorities, became hotspots of perpetual assaults and brigandage. The Buhari-led government was unable to checkmate massive killings, while the decimation of communities led to inhabitants turned into internally displaced persons (IDPs). Under Buhari, Nigeria, especially the North, became a metaphor for unbridled bloodshed, as the immediate past government, headed by a General and former Head of State, appeared weak in reining perpetrators of violence believed to be caused by armed herdsmen.
The past, fraught with gruesome killings and destruction of communities, is back with us, with opposition politicians deploying current security challenges to truncate the comeback of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. More than the past, these politicians are prone to condemn the president for ineptitude in tackling problems caused by these murderers whose horrifying exploits have turned formerly thriving communities into ghost towns, while grief-stricken women and children turned into widows and orphans.
Amplifying Anti-Tinubu Voice
The Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs in the Office of the Vice President, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who resigned recently, advised the president to renounce his second term ambition, warning that the electoral victory of any presidential candidate would be an impossible feat without the North. Baba-Ahmed’s public comments have drawn traction on several social media platforms. Baba-Ahmed’s comments have drawn attention to the perceived failure of the Tinubu-led administration to safeguard the security of citizens, especially northerners who have been reduced into mere games for terror gangs. The initial successes recorded by the incumbent government upon inauguration nearly two years ago are being wiped away, as Benue, Plateau and Niger States, among others, have become epicenters of killings.
In Borno where Boko Haram and the Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP) had been greatly degraded in the past, a new wave of renaissance of attacks is ripping across the state, with three local government areas (LGAs) now completely under the control of the insurgents. More fear-provoking, the terror group that commenced violent operations after the 2009 killing of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, now possesses the capacity to deploy drone attacks.
Amidst the constant bloodshed ravaging Benue and Plateau States where over 100 have been killed, according to official figures, political leaders have only been engaged in the usual condemnation devoid of concrete efforts in combating insecurity. Instead of northern leaders rallying all to unite against these evils, they’re more interested in who becomes what in the next general elections.
Tragedies In Benue, Plateau
Both Governors Hyacinth Alia of Benue State and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State have described the aggressors as foreigners who are out to kill and maim. Mutfwang has even alleged that some of the towns taken over by the attackers have been renamed, while the indigenous people are still taking refuge in various IDPs’ camps without any hope of returning to their conquered communities. The absence of a united platform to seek for the return of these sacked people to their conquered territories remains a cause of endless conflicts. The Plateau State conundrum is caused by many factors, including the struggle for lands and economic interests. The bloodshed in Benue State was aggravated under the Buhari presidency when the anti-grazing bill was promulgated by former Governor Samuel Ortom to stave off further killings.
The incapacity to checkmate these massacres is tied to the failure of community leadership worsened by politicians’ manipulations for electoral victory. With the North losing its capacity for consensus-building for national unity, the underbelly of political hypocrisy and subtle discriminatory posturing of the North are clearly exposed. Eight years of the Buhari government deepened and sustained these anti-unity narratives that the country, especially the North, is now a place where only one religion and one ethnic group matters.
Leadership in all fields have failed, with politicians only interested in power to massage their quest for authority. Community leadership has virtually collapsed as it turns the other way to embrace filthy lucre. Religious leaders who are supposed to play the neutral role are also not left out in dancing to the tunes played by a divided political class. While Rome burns, Arewa leaders, wallowing in their quest for power, are only dancing naked on the graves of their own people for political expediency. For now, only northern political leaders can stop the bloodshed, but they are too divided to unite against these massacres. The chances of non-political leaders to intervene are remote as only those who have acquired enormous wealth can control the poverty-stricken citizens.
Insincerity of leadership will continue to render the unhoused soft targets for blood-thirsty murderers. Bloodshed, including banditry and kidnapping, shall continue until justice and equity hold sway. Our strange form of democracy of “government of some people by some people and for some people” can only be the hallway for more human butcheries.
